Yes, you read that right. Federal Express arrived today (yay--13 days from Portland to Urlask) and approximately 24 hours behind the Air Astana flight, carrying our registry documents, so now all our precious paperwork is in the judge's hands. Ironically, our efforts, from first signing on with our homestudy agency to this moment has taken nearly nine months. Now my labor pains are growing longer and soon my water will burst. (Okay, indulge me here. I'm nine-months pregnant and no one's opening doors for me.)
Back to our timeline: we hope to hear back from the judge later today as to when he'd like to see us in court. It's amazing--our fate now rests in one man's hand. The earliest we can go to pre-court would be tomorrow morning (wouldn't that be wonderful). Then if that goes well, the final court date could either be Wednesday or Thursday. We then pray that he waives the 15-day wait period and awards us immediate custody. From there, we pick up cakes and gifts and head to the orphanage for Garrett Nurlan's farewell party with his group and caretakers. I expect that to be a very emotional time for Nurlan and mama. Not sure how much Nurlan will understand. At 5-1/2, he's old enough to know he's leaving life as he knows it, but too young to appreciate the gift of a family. I expect we'll be in for quite the ride our first week at the apartment together.
After Nurlan comes home with us, we wait another 10 days for the passport and exit visa to come from Astana. Hopefully by the time we leave for Almaty, Nurlan will feel more settled (or not). The good news is Nurlan's feeling better. Can't say the same about Bob. He's in bed right now still fighting a cold. I had a scratchy, sore throat that has seemed to calm down. To make matters worse, it's a spring time tradition for residents to burn their garbage and debris. Eveywhere you look, there are large burning piles of plastic, leaves and god-knows-what-else. You can almost see the tiny toxic particles swirling in the air. (No wonder the average Kazakh male only lives to be 58 and women 64.) Saturday was the worst. Walking around town, my throat was on fire.
First the mud, now the fires. What's next? Locusts?
11 comments:
No no, no LOCUSTS!!! but that made me smile. :)
I'm so glad your paperwork arrived and i hope you get a quick court date-and you get immediate custody of your son!! THEN-you can all get to know each other. I bet Garrett Nurlan will adjust really well. I think i told you about the 6 year old my friend adopted from Columbia 2 years ago. He only spoke Spanish-and he learned english so quickly and just adjusted so wonderfully. He is a neat neat kid. I am so happy for you and ready to hear that not ONLY did locusts NOT come, but that you have court, and have your son home with you. :)
I Hope Bob feels better. :)
Great news! I am so happy that you are making progress. May you get to court pronto!
Locusts . . . you never know!
Finally!! I will keep my fingers crossed that the waiting period can be waived-- I know not all regions will do it, but you deserve it! And good work with the photos on the down-low.. Garrett Nurlan looks as happy as can be.
Jeannine
Kaz is definitely seeming like the land of the unknown, but hopefully locusts are too much even for Kaz! So glad all of your papers are together, finally. Hope your court date is soon and you three are together as a family before the end of the week!
FANTASTIC that your paperwork has finally arrived! 9 months pregnant and no one is opening doors - ooh, that really hit home for me when I read that!
We will pray that things go so quickly and smoothly from now on! THIS IS SO EXCITING!
Karen:
I am keeping my fingers crossed that the judge waives the 15 day wait period!!
Gary and I did a drive-by Saturday but your housesitter did not appear to be home so we didn't stop. Everything looks fine in the neighborhood except the burned home behind you.
It's snowing here today, we're supposed to get up to 8 inches.
Hope Bob gets back on his feet.
You are both troopers!!
Thinking of you...Rochelle
Maybe all the smoke from the fires will keep the locusts away?
Glad your paperwork is there and you guys can get the real party started. You might want to practice your Lamaze breathing as I'm sure it will come in handy in the event of a panic attack!
Fantastic news!! Next - court date! Looking forward to hearing about that.
Things are moving along for you :)
Eileen
I'm so glad your paperwork arrived! What a relief!
We're getting dumped on with "6 to 8 inches" of snow today! Yippee! (Can you hear my sarcasm?) :-)
I hope Bob is feeling better soon! And that you keep getting better!
Yay for paperwork arriving! I'm going to be really hoping that your appeals period will be waived now. You deserve it!
Yuck - burning trash! Well, maybe it's better than having it blow around everywhere. Sure makes you appreciate having good city services - even paying the taxes for it! (Although this morning was very windy while I was walking the dogs and I ended up chasing everbody's trash through the neighborhood as no one seemed to have secured it very well - grrr!).
Use the power of the Secret - imagine getting custody just after court!
I think he will do just fine. You will do just fine. Yeah, it will take a some adjustment but it will all come together. I too, had to learn some basic Kazak to be able to speak to my son. The Russian I learned was absolutely useless as they are trying to convert to Kazak. Who knew? Anyway, take care and hope to hear from you on the flip side soon.
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